Its OK, I am not dead!!!

I just wanted to thank the legion of people who took the time today to text me to ask if I had died following the news of my namesake passing to the other side.

As you can gather it wasn't me and I am not dead.

It brings me onto thinking about the unique relationship I have with Michael Jackson, just by sharing his name, or my name as the case may be. You see from a very early age, I started to get stick on a daily basis about my name and in my younger years, names did hurt and on the odd occasion, I was genuinely upset at taking the brunt of his antics.

As I grew, the name had less of an effect on me and I realised that in fact, this albatross of a name had given me the strength to take any form of verbal abuse on the chin and never rise to it. Much as people loved to taunt me, I have never risen or lashed out in anger because of it.

I got a little older and I began to realise I could use the name to my advantage, as a sales person, you use any trick you can to get in front of people and a lot of times my name actually got me through a door, usually into a torrent of stick but by this time it was water off a ducks back.

Then, a few years ago, everything took a dive again as he faced child abuse allegations. The level of verbal taunting towards me was taken to a new level and this time it had a cruel and uncomfortable side to it. Since that point, any stick has generally been about child abuse and the torrent of text message jokes that I received today reflected that fact.

So now, every time I turn up somewhere in future, I will get "I thought you were dead" which is better than "Hide the kids" so the legacy will remain with me for life.

A few years ago, I wondered if anyone would ever try and sue Mr Jackson for emotional trauma due to sharing the same name as him. I think in America, you could make a case out of it but now we will never know.

In summing up, am I sad he has died? Yes, I have a little sympathy for him as he was obviously misunderstood but did himself no favours. I have long gotten over being spiteful of my name and I have grown to love it over the years and I cant imagine suiting any other name better. So reluctant as I am to say it, Michael Jackson, RIP.